Okay, I'm a convert. New Balance (mute your sound before clicking on that link) sneakers really are that good. And they're worth the money. My feet had been cramping, my legs and knees aching, and I keep forgetting that whenever stuff like that happens it's usually because I need new sneakers. I'd had my old Payless ones for over a year, but now that I'm more active the cheap stuff just won't do. So on Friday I walked into my local New Balance store and out with a pair of 1123's and, my goodness, what a sea change! My whole body feels better now. They have a line of office-type shoes called Aravon, and I think I'm going to stock up on a few of those next. Although I'm not sure I want to become an OMG Shoez person, this stuff makes it awfully tempting.
So it's the end of the month and so much has happened, so many posts are still bookmarked... and I'm bound and determined to take care of that today! After all, what are 3-day weekends for? Of course, it'll be way too much for one blog post, so I'm splitting them, roughly down the middle between culture and politics (although of course so many people, like me, blog about both at the same time):
• I don't plan on making this a regular feature, but I have so many coworkers now that interesting conversations are bound to happen. Speaking of being a convert, one of those coworkers now swears by something called MonaVie, which is basically acai juice mixed with some other stuff. Apparently this has become a pyramid-scheme the likes of which I haven't seen since Amway (you did know Amway's still around and has rebranded itself as Quixtar and their commercials are all over Olbermann's Countdown show, yes?). Here's an interesting article about the debate surrounding this potion's supposed miracle cures. I tasted acai juice once and didn't care much for it. Tasted a bit like... snake oil. Speaking of which, Shayna at Slashfood gives a heads-up about the pending legal battle between the sugar industry and sucralose manufacturers. This is yet another reason I like to stick with the non-chemical no-cal sweetener stevia, which is kind of the opposite of snake oil. The packets ain't cheap, but you only need half of one per cup of tea, so they last awhile.
• Leftover San Diego posts: Colleen passes along a truly horrendous con wrap-up wherein the fanboy complains about all the middle-aged women present. It's like, "Mom's ruining my fun!" Very weird, and very insulting. On a related but far more positive note, a blogger on Feministe calling herself Daisy Deadhead has a post full of great links to older female bloggers. Of which I guess I'm one now, being 50 and all.
• Heidi Meeley announces GirlWonder.org's Con Anti-Harassment Project, in which I will be participating, time permitting. (And Ragnell reminds me that GirlWonder also has a map for locating female-friendly comic book stores, so check it out if you want to add your local shop.) Ms. Meeley also has the results of an informal poll she took among non-comics reading friends about how they view comics and comics fans.
• Heidi MacDonald has a nice overview of the Virgin Comics implosion (I was not surprised at all about this; they struck me from the beginning as "the latest Tekno," all about famous people lending their names to stories that didn't seem to draw readers in) as well as musings about more than one "female cartoonist whose name had been completely lost to the sands of time in the great lost era between Rose O’Neill and Julie Doucet, and how women of her level of achievement were almost always lost to the sands of time, leaving those who come behind to have to reinvent the wheel over and over again." This is why I wanted to start an adjunct page on the Friends of Lulu website paying tribute to "women in comics 'herstory'" but never got around to finishing the page. (I still have it, and the accompanying illo, if anyone wants to try and tackle it.)
• Leigh Dragoon passes along a terrific essay about Why "Strong Female Characters" Are Bad For Women. Key line: "I think the major problem here is that women were clamoring for 'strong female characters,' and male writers misunderstood. They thought the feminists meant [Strong Female] Characters. The feminists meant [Strong Characters], Female." I also like Kalinara's additional observations about this, including discussion of scantily-clad characters. Val D'Orazio has a great take on this; she's not the only one tired of female characters suddenly losing clothing when they turn evil! "It's like, she's evil -- but she looks like a sex worker. She's evil -- but she could totally 'do' you. She could beat your ass -- but you could totally enjoy it."
• Jehanzeb Dar reviews Marie Javins' day job. Hey Marie, did you contact her yet?
• Avalon's Willow has no patience for writers and artists who won't even try to broaden their horizons. And Melissa Silverstein continues to ask, Where are all the female movie critics?, and answer (naturally), here in the blogosphere, for one.
• Max Schrem at Slashfood examines the nation's biggest kosher supermarket, located in my old Brooklyn neighborhood where I first lived when I moved out of my parents' house, mere minutes from tons of halal stores. I love New York City's cross-cultural tolerances. And Robyn Lee at Serious Eats displays some weird food-related album covers. The sad thing is, this is probably just the tip of the tragically tasty iceberg.
• Robyn also looks at the daily calorie consumption of Olympians -- that's right folks, the fat girl (weightlifter Cheryl Haworth) takes in far fewer calories than most of her competitors. So can we please immediately shoot down any proposed legislation based on erroneous assumptions like "fat people aren't as healthy as thin people" and "people are fat because they consume more calories" rather than actual scientific studies relating to carb/sugar intake and the types of over-processed foods foisted upon consumers that weren't around a generation or two ago?
• The last food item for now: Budgie and about 100 other blogs, particularly on LiveJournal, have been passing along The Omnivore's Hundred, "a list of 100 things that [food blogger Andrew believes] every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life." I've had about half the things listed, most of the other stuff I've never heard of, and I persist in believing that certain things on the list are decidedly not smart for human consumption (like uncooked or undercooked meat).
• Okay Len, you're forgiven for not being around because you've been going around being all famous and like that.
• Kath David reports on Peter's recent involvement in a George Takei roast.
• RiffTrax is giving audience members a chance to submit their own riffs for money.
• Val doesn't get the whole modern bubblegum thing. Well, I've seen most of the late '60s and early '70s bubblegum phenoms first-hand, and remember them well, particularly those in which I was directly involved, and I don't think the idols of that age were any more rebellious than the ones we have nowadays. Of course, I was in college by the time punk came around, and I was too young to have noted the British Invasion as it was happening, so maybe I just missed "rebel rock" by a half-generation on either end.
• Dick Cavett questions why anyone would want to be a comedian, as Gary Sassaman spends An Evening With Groucho.
• I'm not sure I've had time to miss the Olympics. I thought the coverage could have been more varied, I got real sick of prime-time tush-volleyball real fast, but the opening and closing ceremonies were stupendous. And I did want to mention Laura's post (good luck with the house stuff, Laura!) about Michael Phelps' competitor Milorad Cavic, who's been blogging about the contest and other things.
• One of my new company's perks is gym discounts, but I haven't gone yet, in large measure because the attitudes Kate Harding describes here are still all too prevalent.
• Lastly, Sarah Dyer passes along good news about a kid-friendly version of YouTube.
Back later with part 2, for which I need to first catch up on reading the News+Views blogs.
So it's the end of the month and so much has happened, so many posts are still bookmarked... and I'm bound and determined to take care of that today! After all, what are 3-day weekends for? Of course, it'll be way too much for one blog post, so I'm splitting them, roughly down the middle between culture and politics (although of course so many people, like me, blog about both at the same time):
• I don't plan on making this a regular feature, but I have so many coworkers now that interesting conversations are bound to happen. Speaking of being a convert, one of those coworkers now swears by something called MonaVie, which is basically acai juice mixed with some other stuff. Apparently this has become a pyramid-scheme the likes of which I haven't seen since Amway (you did know Amway's still around and has rebranded itself as Quixtar and their commercials are all over Olbermann's Countdown show, yes?). Here's an interesting article about the debate surrounding this potion's supposed miracle cures. I tasted acai juice once and didn't care much for it. Tasted a bit like... snake oil. Speaking of which, Shayna at Slashfood gives a heads-up about the pending legal battle between the sugar industry and sucralose manufacturers. This is yet another reason I like to stick with the non-chemical no-cal sweetener stevia, which is kind of the opposite of snake oil. The packets ain't cheap, but you only need half of one per cup of tea, so they last awhile.
• Leftover San Diego posts: Colleen passes along a truly horrendous con wrap-up wherein the fanboy complains about all the middle-aged women present. It's like, "Mom's ruining my fun!" Very weird, and very insulting. On a related but far more positive note, a blogger on Feministe calling herself Daisy Deadhead has a post full of great links to older female bloggers. Of which I guess I'm one now, being 50 and all.
• Heidi Meeley announces GirlWonder.org's Con Anti-Harassment Project, in which I will be participating, time permitting. (And Ragnell reminds me that GirlWonder also has a map for locating female-friendly comic book stores, so check it out if you want to add your local shop.) Ms. Meeley also has the results of an informal poll she took among non-comics reading friends about how they view comics and comics fans.
• Heidi MacDonald has a nice overview of the Virgin Comics implosion (I was not surprised at all about this; they struck me from the beginning as "the latest Tekno," all about famous people lending their names to stories that didn't seem to draw readers in) as well as musings about more than one "female cartoonist whose name had been completely lost to the sands of time in the great lost era between Rose O’Neill and Julie Doucet, and how women of her level of achievement were almost always lost to the sands of time, leaving those who come behind to have to reinvent the wheel over and over again." This is why I wanted to start an adjunct page on the Friends of Lulu website paying tribute to "women in comics 'herstory'" but never got around to finishing the page. (I still have it, and the accompanying illo, if anyone wants to try and tackle it.)
• Leigh Dragoon passes along a terrific essay about Why "Strong Female Characters" Are Bad For Women. Key line: "I think the major problem here is that women were clamoring for 'strong female characters,' and male writers misunderstood. They thought the feminists meant [Strong Female] Characters. The feminists meant [Strong Characters], Female." I also like Kalinara's additional observations about this, including discussion of scantily-clad characters. Val D'Orazio has a great take on this; she's not the only one tired of female characters suddenly losing clothing when they turn evil! "It's like, she's evil -- but she looks like a sex worker. She's evil -- but she could totally 'do' you. She could beat your ass -- but you could totally enjoy it."
• Jehanzeb Dar reviews Marie Javins' day job. Hey Marie, did you contact her yet?
• Avalon's Willow has no patience for writers and artists who won't even try to broaden their horizons. And Melissa Silverstein continues to ask, Where are all the female movie critics?, and answer (naturally), here in the blogosphere, for one.
• Max Schrem at Slashfood examines the nation's biggest kosher supermarket, located in my old Brooklyn neighborhood where I first lived when I moved out of my parents' house, mere minutes from tons of halal stores. I love New York City's cross-cultural tolerances. And Robyn Lee at Serious Eats displays some weird food-related album covers. The sad thing is, this is probably just the tip of the tragically tasty iceberg.
• Robyn also looks at the daily calorie consumption of Olympians -- that's right folks, the fat girl (weightlifter Cheryl Haworth) takes in far fewer calories than most of her competitors. So can we please immediately shoot down any proposed legislation based on erroneous assumptions like "fat people aren't as healthy as thin people" and "people are fat because they consume more calories" rather than actual scientific studies relating to carb/sugar intake and the types of over-processed foods foisted upon consumers that weren't around a generation or two ago?
• The last food item for now: Budgie and about 100 other blogs, particularly on LiveJournal, have been passing along The Omnivore's Hundred, "a list of 100 things that [food blogger Andrew believes] every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life." I've had about half the things listed, most of the other stuff I've never heard of, and I persist in believing that certain things on the list are decidedly not smart for human consumption (like uncooked or undercooked meat).
• Okay Len, you're forgiven for not being around because you've been going around being all famous and like that.
• Kath David reports on Peter's recent involvement in a George Takei roast.
• RiffTrax is giving audience members a chance to submit their own riffs for money.
• Val doesn't get the whole modern bubblegum thing. Well, I've seen most of the late '60s and early '70s bubblegum phenoms first-hand, and remember them well, particularly those in which I was directly involved, and I don't think the idols of that age were any more rebellious than the ones we have nowadays. Of course, I was in college by the time punk came around, and I was too young to have noted the British Invasion as it was happening, so maybe I just missed "rebel rock" by a half-generation on either end.
• Dick Cavett questions why anyone would want to be a comedian, as Gary Sassaman spends An Evening With Groucho.
• I'm not sure I've had time to miss the Olympics. I thought the coverage could have been more varied, I got real sick of prime-time tush-volleyball real fast, but the opening and closing ceremonies were stupendous. And I did want to mention Laura's post (good luck with the house stuff, Laura!) about Michael Phelps' competitor Milorad Cavic, who's been blogging about the contest and other things.
• One of my new company's perks is gym discounts, but I haven't gone yet, in large measure because the attitudes Kate Harding describes here are still all too prevalent.
• Lastly, Sarah Dyer passes along good news about a kid-friendly version of YouTube.
Back later with part 2, for which I need to first catch up on reading the News+Views blogs.
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